


Helena

by allpowerfuloracle



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Bruce Wayne Daughter, F/F, F/M, Past Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Season 3 AU, Young Justice - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2018-11-13 12:20:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11185005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allpowerfuloracle/pseuds/allpowerfuloracle
Summary: Batman's greatest secret comes to light after the team's greatest loss. New friends, new enemies, and new challenges arise as they move forward. The real question is, can they handle it?(Season 3 Young Justice AU with Earth-2 Huntress inserted (aka Helena Wayne))Status: Draft - Currently Writing





	1. It Begins

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story I always wanted to post and I'm grateful for this website! Seems like a great first work.

Getting through the loss of one of your own was no easy task. The loss of Wally West seemed to be a damage to the team’s foundation. Everything was starting to dismantle as the amount of time passed grew. Everything looked the same, but there was an empty feeling in the rooms. There was a lot of in-fighting, a lot of people skipping training and to top it all off; a few failed missions due to the fighting. 

The day she came along, the entire day, for once, seemed entirely reasonable to start with, training with Black Canary and Nightwing. M'gann made burgers and tofu burgers, and everything seemed as normal as it could get for the team.

That was until Batman came in. His presence grabbing the attention of everyone. The room falls silent for a moment before he takes a deep breath. 

"Nightwing. Batgirl. With me." He orders, knowing in the back of his head that they would follow them.

The two do as they are told and put down their food and follow Batman; no questions asked.

Before the Batfamily could even make it into the Zeta Tube's before their wrist computers went off.

"Hostage situation at Gotham Academy?" Batgirl asks Dick in a small whisper.

"That's what we're doing," Batman answered. “We _need_ to get a move on."

As they quickly slap on their suits, their computers chime two more times.

"Tim just sent out an SOS," Dick says in worry as he grabs his escrima sticks and heads toward the Zeta Tubes.

The three different signals catch Barbara off guard. She figured it couldn't be a computer malfunction because she just upgraded every operating system last week. Tim’s one SOS signal should have been enough.

Barbara doesn’t take the time to investigate; so she shrugs it off for now and follows her partner.

It doesn’t take long for the three to make it to Gotham Academy and to witness the mob scene below the bat-plane. Parents were crowding along the police barricade begging for someone to tell them anything about their kids. The beat cops were trying to get everyone to calm down but to no use; they were concerned parents, of course, they’re going to freak out. 

They land on the roof first, sliding through the vents with quick speed. When they land in the East Wing of the school the three split up down the long hallway with a rapid pace. Batman split up on his own, heading down the West wing towards the English department.

There were three pockets full of kids and shooters in 3 different classrooms, the gunmen had herded the students like cattle into the trap, waiting for the slaughter.

Tim was sitting in the school library like a sitting duck which angered him to no end. Right now there were five gunmen waving assault rifles around like they were paintball guns at Halloween time. Together they had herded the West Wing together into one spot. He kept his focus on the gunmen, despite the sounds of the scared kids playing around the room. He sat silently, staring at them, waiting for when Bruce and the rest of them would get here to get him out.

Out of the crowd of scared and sobbing students, one girl stood up. "Mister I gotta go to the bathroom!"

Tim had recognized her; it was Helena Kyle. From what he remembered she was scholarship kid who had a mouth on her. The best class clown in the entire 11 th grade. She was smart though, Tim had a few AP classes with her. She was the only student in all four grades that could match Tim’s IQ. He always had to keep up with her in English. She kept to herself, for the most part. Her boldness was like her usual antics in class; but, what she was doing was going to get herself killed. 

One of the assailants spat at her in his thick Russian (Slavic?) accent. "Not my problem."

Helena, with the guts she had, walked towards the man; putting on her best-embarrassed face. "My period just started, and I don't have any underwear on!"

The guy looks at her weirdly. "Why is that?"

"Laundry day, and you know what, this is my only uniform, and I'm going to get it all dirty!" She exclaims sadly.

"I don't see any…"

She sweeps his feet with her leg, making the man the topple over with his rifle. She grabs it and runs to the empty half of the library. She peeks from behind one of the shelves and waits for the men to follow her one by one.

As one man turns the corner, she takes the buttstock of the rifle, and with all the strength she had bashed the gun in his face.

Before another gunman could follow her, the lights went dark.

_Took him long enough._

She takes the rifle and shoots out one of the long tall windows of the library. "EVERYONE GET OUT NOW!" She exclaims.

Tim watches her, in shock of the natural skill she had already seemed to have had. It seemed like forever before one of Tim’s friends grabbed him and joined the kids that were running like mad towards the windows going to meet their petrified parents outside.

"What took you so long?" She says to the Batman, who's busy turning riflemen into rag-dolls.

"Shut up and fight."

Helena laughs at that and reaches for his utility belt and holds his Batarang in her hand like her pocket knife.

There were only two guys left when the guy tried to use his weight on her; she just went for a swift kick to his face. The guys stumble back, but he still comes running at her like a linebacker.

She takes the Batarang and jabs it into his shoulder and shoves him into the bookshelf, and he didn't get back up.

Batgirl watched from the hallway in amazement, growing confused on how such a girl could fight like that. She didn't investigate it further like she wanted to. Instead, she took off to Nightwing to give back-up.

The gunmen were down, and Batman looked at the girl in disapproval. "Didn't I tell you not to go charging into this?"

"I got bored." She jokes sticking her tongue out at him. "Just, thanks for getting here."

Batman smirks. "If I had come in a few minutes later I wouldn't have needed to."

Then she takes a glass and cuts up her arm a little bit, making it look like she was a victim and not a bonafide bad-ass as Tim had seen earlier. "Ready when you are."

Batman wraps an arm around the girl and shoots his grappling gun to the light pole. He grabs her by the waist and pulls them out of the room and over the crowd. He lands near the ambulance.

"Thank you, Batman," She fake murmurs in tears. "Thank you! You saved my life!"

He wanted to laugh; Batman wanted to chuckle at the girl’s antics.

The Caped Crusader places her on the gurney as he grapples to the school again, running and putting an end to the chaos.

Helena could see them all leave from the ambulance when the fight was over. It was sad, and this was probably the closest Helena would ever be to the people Batman considered family to him. It was rather depressing, but still, Helena had her mother. She shifts in her spot on the ambulance steps before scanning the crowd, looking for her mother, wherever she was.

Instead of her mother walking over to see if she was okay; Tim Drake was sauntering over to her.

She sighs. "You holding up there, Timmy?"

He nods and holds up his arm. "Cut it on the way out of the library." He says. "It's not deep; I'll live. I just wanted to say what you did was brave."

She shakes her head, running a hand through her long brown hair. "Not really."

"You could've died."

_He wouldn't let that happen._  She thinks for a moment. "I would've been fine.” She insists to Tim before she looks around at the crowd once again. “Is Bruce coming to pick you up?"

Tim and Helena rarely talked outside of school. But, Helena distinctly remembered when his parents died. Everyone walked up to Tim and gave him hugs; she remembers giving him her pudding from her lunch for two weeks until he told her to stop.

"Yeah, he should be here soon." He says. "Is your dad coming?"

"No, my mom should be here." She looks around for a moment, not seeing her mother still. "I don't know where she could be. Listen you don’t have to stay, Tiny Tim. I’ll be fine. See you English?”

Tim frowns a little at that. "At least let me repay you for saving my life,” Tim insists, smiling warmly at the acquaintance. “I'll sit with you until your mom gets here?"

Helena laughs at her classmate. "Go ahead, Drake." She jokes as she pats the seat next to her in the back of the ambulance.

He sits next to her, the blood on his forehead and the sweat and small drops of blood dripping from her face.

"Is that your blood?" He asks.

She looks at him oddly before going to wipe her face on her uniform sleeve. She looks at it and shakes her head. "Nope."

One by one the students gave statements to the officers and leave. But Helena's mother was nowhere to be seen; she had given her broad statement to Commissioner Gordon himself, who thanked her for her bravery.

"I don't have half the balls you have, kid." The older man huffed through his Cigar. "You're crazy."

“It’s not crazy,” Helena insisted, as a farewell to the commissioner. Jim couldn’t help but laugh before he took off to get another statement from another student.

Helena and Tim slip into another conversation, purely small talk to pass the time. Her mother still hasn’t shown up to the scene, but Tim's adoptive father was a little late to the chaos, which wasn't surprising to her.

When a big fancy Porche comes speeding up to the lot, Helena smirks. She can hear the loud music that’s blaring out the speakers, and she swore she saw the car bounce.

Out of the front seat of the car comes Tim's guardian Bruce Wayne and his brother, Dick Grayson. He walks over to the passenger seat and opens the door for Mr. Wayne’s passenger, Barbara Gordon.

"Tim!" Barbara exclaims jogging over hugging him tightly. "Thank god you're alright! I was so worried!"

Tim hugs back, smiling warmly at her. "I'm fine."

"Who's this, Timmy? your girlfriend?" Dick teases.

Helena goes wide-eyed and starts to laugh nervously. "I-uh…No."

_Gross!_

"She's not my girlfriend," Tim says sternly. "She's just a classmate. She saved the library of kids."

"Thank you," Bruce says to her. "Your mother and father should be proud of you."

"Sir," Helena corrects as politely as she can, hoping the man can give her a ride home. "It's just my mother, and she doesn't seem to be here right now."

"Well," Bruce says, taking the clear hint and nodding. "As a debt of gratitude, let me give you a ride home."

Helena smiles and tucks a piece of hair behind her ear. "Why thank you, Mr. Wayne." She giggles. "That's very kind of you."

Barbara studies the girl from afar, her interactions with herself, Dick, Bruce, and Tim. She's letting this all roll off rather naturally, and it's still not good enough. Barbara saw the way she fought those gunmen, she worked with Batman perfectly, and they were just perfect strangers.

Or were they?

The 5 of them back into the sports car and take off towards the city. The silence that fell inside was a little awkward, Helena feeling the laser eyes of Barbara Gordon peeling into the back of her head.

Bruce breaks the silence, peering over at Barbara in the rearview mirror. "Where do you live?" Bruce asks Helena.

"Gotham Centennial Apartments." She answers him. "It's just outside downtown."

Bruce takes the next right as Barbara starts into the conversation. Just beginning to scratch the surface of the link between her and Bruce.

"So, Helena,” The red-head starts, staring at the back of her head through the headrest of the passenger seat. “My father says you took out one of the gunmen before Batman came. Where did you learn that?" She asks. "It's pretty impressive for a girl of your size."

"My mom's shitty boyfriends. Plus the bullies at school give you a run for your money" The girl says back with a little nervous smile and a chuckle. "That answer your question?"

Barbara nods. "Well thank you, anyway."

The brunette girl nods in acknowledgment as Dick glances at the red-headed bat in confusion. Raising an eyebrow to question her motive. In return, Barbara pursed her lips, just as look to encourage Dick to trust her.

Helena shifts in her seat, a signal to Bruce.  _She knows something._

She can feel the car speed up a little bit as they make another turn into the apartment complex. Helena gets out, looking towards Tim. "Thanks for sitting with me."

Tim nods. "Thanks for saving my life."

Helena rolls her eyes and laughs walking to her apartment door. "Stop saying that."

Helena walks up the fumbles with her key for a moment before she watches Bruce speed off in his fancy car. The Prince of Gotham waving before he was gone.

As he sped off, she waved back at him. “Nice seeing you again, _Dad_.” She says to herself before she turns and walks alone into her apartment.

Meanwhile, Barbara was still as confused as ever. The extra SOS, The girl, the amazing hand to hand combat skills. It was all itching at Barbara, and she wanted to find out the truth.

"Good work you two," Bruce says to Dick and Barbara. "You should be proud of yourselves."

A good work? Should we be proud? Two real genuine compliments in a day, Barbara was really at a loss.

After hours of scanning, hacking and attempting to decrypt Batman's personal computer and she still couldn't find anything. There wasn’t encryption on this thing that she couldn’t decode, and now she was at a dead end.

It takes her into the Friday night, digging to find that missing link. She isolates herself in the corner with her tablet as the rest of the team binged on TV together.

"You okay Batgirl?" Nightwing asks, sitting next to her on the couch. "You seem, off."

"I'm fine." She says, completely lying to him.

"Batgirl…" He says again, hoping to get in the loop on why she was so curious about Helena in the car yesterday afternoon.

"It's that girl," she says. "I saw her, with Batman." She whispers. "They were fighting a herd of the gunmen at the school.”

The revelation from the red-headed bat throws him for a loop and he looks at his friend. “BG,” Dick asks, confused. "What are you getting at?"

"They were fighting like a team." She says. "You should've seen them! They worked together; they knew each other’s next move without hesitation. Seamless synchronicity. Not even you and Bats had that. You and I don’t have that.”

Dick raises an eyebrow. "That's…odd…" He admits, not even questioning the girl’s claim. "But that doesn't mean anything."

"Don't you find it weird that a Team Com's unit was used to send out a second SOS?" Barbara asks.

"Tim's could've malfunctioned."

She grumbled and rolled her eyes as she just kept looking for something to tie them together.

There has to be something. She had gone through all the files multiple times with still no luck. She looked into Helena Kyle, her grades, her permeant record, and any other activity. Aside from a misdemeanor, there was no red flag. There was less on her supposed mother, Samantha, but there were no personal ties to Bruce or Batman.

The trail didn’t pick up again until the earliest hours of Sunday Morning; Batman called the team for an emergency mission. Miss Martian, Batgirl, Robin Nightwing and Superboy. A mission to Gotham, there was no need to get the rest of the team to manage Coms, Batman took over.

Batgirl looked over at Nightwing. "Weird." She mouths.

Batman gave them a simple search and rescue mission, any occupant on the inside was to be extracted and brought back to the Watchtower. They were given their coordinates and were off in the bioship without anymore briefing.

"Where are we going at this time of night?" M'gann asks from the passenger ship.

"Just follow the coordinates," Nightwing says, looking at Batgirl with a worried look on his face. "Batman has a good reason for this. It's important."

Barbara watches the coordinates match up with the bio-ship to their location. She knew the area, it was the safer part of Gotham. But why call the team for a simple mission with the ‘Bat-family’. She watches as M'gann parks and nods. "We're now over the drop-off,” The Martian announced.

Nightwing, M'gann, and Batgirl jump towards the roof as Superboy stayed behind.

With M'gann's help, The three density-shifted in the apartment that was right below.

The place, however, was a complete disaster. Food, Glass, and furniture were all over the room. As Batgirl makes it through the living room to the kitchen, she sees a massive pile of blood on the floor. She stops for a moment and turns her head, through the window, she saw the hallway, and out that window, she saw where she and Bruce were parked.

Helena Kyle lives here.

She steps over the pile of blood and starts to look at the scene; the wood cabinet door was utterly crushed. She winced at that and looked around some more. Then, Batman was talking in her ear from the Comms.

“Batgirl,” He asked. “What's your status?"

"I'm in the kitchen," She reports. "There's a large pile of blood on the floor, and I don't see anyone around."

As soon as she says that, she hears her tracker monitor start to beep repeatedly on her utility belt. She took it out and watched the screen. A red blip was pointing to the kitchen cupboard. She walks forward towards the closet. The beeping was getting louder and faster; it just kept going until she opened it.

It was Helena, the girl from the school, clutching a gun to her hand and she looks at Barbara with fear in her eyes.

"She's dead…M-m-my mother is dead…" She whispers.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow! You made it to Chapter 2! How kind!

Batgirl looks at her oddly, taking a few steps over to her. “Helena, we’re not here to hurt you,” She assures looking over at the gun in the girl’s hand and then at her. She holds out her hand and Helena hands over the gun without putting up a fight. "Did you call us?"

She nods rapidly, tears falling from her face onto her clothes. "I'm sorry…I…I needed him…" She says in a flurry of sobs. “I didn’t know what else to do!”

"Don’t worry, Helena; you did the right thing. You did the right thing. But I have to ask, Him, who?" She asks as she sits on the cabinet floor next to her.

Now, Nightwing, Robin, and M'gann were now watching from the threshold of the kitchen area. Watching and waiting for the orders from Batgirl, who had taken this situation for herself.

"Bruce," Helena whispers to herself. "I-I need Bruce…"

Barbara wasn’t wrong; there was a connection between the two. And when Batgirl sees the familiar Bat-tracker in her hand, this only further confirms her theory into cold hard fact. These can't be restarted, or be put back together. When the Bats of Gotham used one, they put a deactivation code in it. Not even the Pentagon could turn on back on.

"He's waiting for you." She assures. She holds out her hand for Helena and smiles reassuringly. “He’s pretty worried from what I can tell.”

Helena takes her hand and manages to rise to her feet. "Can you help me up?" she asks pointing up to the entry to the attic.

Batgirl nods and leans down and cups her hands. "Come on."

Helena steps up, and Batgirl lifts her. Helena opens the hatch and grabs the big duffel bag and jumps back. "Thanks." She mutters through her hiccups

Batgirl nods holding her arm for her. "Let's just get you to Batman."

Helena nods and wipes her eyes, wrapping her arm with Batgirl’s. For a moment, her sleeve slid up, and Nightwing managed to catch sight of her arms, fresh bruises and cuts were littering both of her arms. This was one hell of a fight she was through.

Nightwing takes a picture of the kitchen with his mask and uploads it to his wrist computer. He watches Helena walk with Batgirl towards the window. "Can I take to your bag?" He asks.

Helena looks at him and nods. "Thank you." She says handing him her duffel.

M'gann walks up to her. "Take my hand."

The young girl looks at M’gann wearily before she lets go of Barbara's hand holds onto the Martian’s hand

With one quick thought, Helena and M'gann were floating up to the bioship with ease.

Batgirl looks at Dick and Tim when they’re on board. "She knows who Batman is," she says. “So she probably knows who we are, so that you know.

Nightwing raises his eyebrows in surprise. "She said his name when I was helping her," Batgirl says. "Plus everything I told you earlier I just wonder…"

"Who is this girl that Bruce is hiding from us?" Nightwing finishes without a second thought.

After Robin, Nightwing and Batgirl took excellent crime scene photographs. They start to head back for the Watchtower. Tim watched his classmate keep her head straight out the front windshield, the girl barely blinked. She just stared forward with this blank, stoic expression on her face.

Robin was the same way too when he saw his father in the middle of the kitchen. He was empty and quiet to let the information sink into his brain. His father was dead, now Helena's mother was killed.

He puts a hand on her shoulder and feels her tense up under his glove. She turns over and sees him with a sympathetic glance from under his Domino Mask. "What is it, Robin?"

"I know exactly what you're going through." He says. "I wanted to say that I'm here if you want to talk."

Helena looks back at the Boy-Wonder and nods slightly. "Thank you," She whispers. "That means a lot to me."

Nightwing looks at the girl in confusion. Her and Bruce. There had to be a good reason for the connection between her and Bruce. Was she a possible choice for Robin? Was she supposed to be in Dick's position?

"Bioship to Watchtower." Miss Martian announced. "Open Docking Bay 6."

"Docking Bay 6 opening," Batman calls back as they land safely inside.

When they land, Nightwing retakes her bag.

"Thank you." She mutters. "You're too kind."

He laughs. "It comes with being Batman's right-hand man."

"Former right-hand man." Robin jokes as he stands with Batgirl. The two of them keep their eyes on Nightwing and Helena as they walked out of the bioship.

"So," Superboy says. "Who's she again?"

"If we knew," Robin says. "We'd tell you."

"Follow me!"

Although, Helena didn't need to follow him. She seemed to know the way around as if it were the back of her hand. Nightwing looks at her oddly before he ends up following her to wherever she was going to.

When they make it to the Zeta Tubes, Helena runs into the waiting arms of Batman. She throws her arms around his torso and digs her face into his chest.

Nightwing watches in astonishment as Batman holds onto the girl. Like he was relieved that she was safe. He leans against the threshold of the door and watches as Batman's eyes close and he sighs in relief.

That's when it hit him.

She's his daughter.

Helena walked over to Superboy and Miss Martian and correctly thanked them for helping her. Miss Martian astonished at her manners. She walked over to the Batfamily and they all, without a hitch, zeta'd back to the bat cave.

"You need to explain yourself," Batgirl says to Batman as everyone de-masked and de-cowled. "Because I'm not all that happy about the secret girl you send us out to get in the middle of the night."

"She's his daughter," Nightwing says. "It explains the fight at the school and the SOS signal."

"He was right," Helena says crossing her arms. "You are a good detective."

Barbara and Tim are slightly astonished at the statement. But Tim laughs and turns to Dick. "And you called her my girlfriend!"

Helena snickers a little with a small, sad smile on her face. "Yeah, that's rather gross."

"Miss Helena?"

"Alfred!" She exclaims, running over to the old man bringing water and snacks to everyone. Alfred puts down the tray and wraps his arms around his granddaughter.

"What brings you here?” He asked smiling like mad.

He unwraps his arms from her and sees the Batfamily standing around the cave. He looks at Bruce with confusion. "You told them?"

"I had to," Bruce says. "Selina's gone."

Selina Kyle. That was a completely different story. Batgirl read her file when she first started. A master jewel thief before Batman’s time, or maybe during. The case notes on that were a little iffy on that.

"Gone?" Alfred asks. He looks at Helena who was holding back tears. "Oh my."

They share another hug and Dick sighs. "So, what exactly happened Helena?"

Helena lets go of Alfred and stand close to him, her eyes still misty-eyed. "It was a few hours after you guys dropped me off." She starts. "Mom and I made dinner, and we were watching a movie. Then, someone knocked on the door. She looked at me and then told me to hide in the cupboard. So I grabbed the gun from her bedroom and hid in the cupboard."

“For two days?” Dick asks.

“A home invasion…with ninjas! They…they shouting my name, so I hid in the cupboard. My mother told me to hide there until you came.”

"You saw the intruder right?" Bruce asks, breaking the line of Helena’s story.

"There were more than one." She says, calming her voice down about it all. "They were dressed like ninjas, black from head to two with guns and katanas. They were fighting her until one stuck one through her heart."

"I'm surprised you're so calm about this," Dick says. “I mean if it were us…

Helena shrugged, looking at her feet and then up at the first boy wonder. "It's just, took a while for it to sink in."

Barbara looks down at her with a frown. "Well, I'm…sorry for your loss…"

"Thank you."

An awkward silence fell over the group as Alfred wraps an arm around Helena. "I do have some cookies in the warming drawer if you'd like one."

Helena smiles, this one seeming more genuine than the last. "Your famous quadruple chocolate chunk?" She asked, meekly.

"Of course!" Alfred exclaims.

The two march up to the bat-elevator and the Manor for Cookies, leaving the rest of the Bat-family to talk about the hard stuff.

When they were out of hearing distance, Dick turns to his adoptive father and sighs. "Now tell me," Dick says. "How come you never told me I had a sister?"

"Because I didn't know for a while," Bruce says. "The only way I found her was on patrol, with you."

"It was just after you took on the role of Robin." He says. "We were on patrol when a 5-year-old was just about to get mugged. We swoop in and get her home safely when I saw her go into her apartment. I saw Selina Kyle. The last time I saw her was five years ago."

"You and Catwoman? Selina Kyle?" Dick asks in astonishment.

"Not important." He says. "So, I, when they were gone took a DNA sample from her room. The results prove it. She was mine."

"But that doesn't explain why you didn't tell me," Dick says.

"It's because Selina didn't want her near my life. The Batman or Bruce Wayne." He says. "So I just kept it from you, and from Alfred for a while. Selina let me see her, but I couldn't tell anyone."

"What are you going to do now?" Barbara asks. "About Selina?"

"Find her," He says as he walks to the locker room, taking off his gloves. "Even if she's dead or alive."

 

Helena hadn’t been to the manor in a long time. The last time was for her 9 th birthday and Bruce had just stopped by to pick up her birthday gift before he took her to dinner.

It looked the same as if she were 9 years old again. 

Alfred took her to ‘her’ room after she, Nightwing and Barbara had devoured the plate of cookies that Alfred had prepared. He was extremely underprepared in this situation, he always remembered Helena eating more cookies than Bruce could in one sitting. 

The entire time, Helena barely said a word. Dick and Barbara were trying their best to fill the kitchen with conversation but it really wasn’t the best thing. 

The Butler opens up the door to a victorian-decorated bedroom with a balcony leading towards the backyard. It was all dusted and decorated and she knew that Alfred had rushed to get it all ready. 

“I remember how much you liked to read outside,” Alfred chimed as he took Helena’s bag from her and set it on the dresser and began to unpack her clothes for her. “Lay down, Helena…rest your head for a moment…” He urged as he started to fold her shirts and fill the drawers. 

Helena didn’t argue with her grandfather; she kicked off her shoes under the bed and climbed on top as she rest her back against the headboard as she looked at Alfred. She takes a deep breath before she looks at the bag he’s unpacking and then at him. 

“Why isn’t Dad afraid of anything?” She asked as she crossed her arms. 

The old man stopped from his task and thought about it for a moment. The question made him feel completely lost. Did the man he once called his son have the basic human emotion of fear? 

The man had been through so much that it was impossible to tell. He was probably theclosest to Bruce, but sometimes he didn’t even talk to him. 

“Why, Miss Helena, I don’t know…” He said as he continued to unpack his granddaughter’s things. 

For a moment, Helena remains to herself trying to collect her thoughts. She couldn’t formulate a coherent thought, it’s been a blur of meeting people and getting to safety since mom. It’s too much to wrap her head around. All she could say was this. 

“I hate it, being afraid.” 

Alfred takes a deep breath before he looks over her. “I do too.”

Helena doesn’t say anything else, she just watches as Alfred unpacks her bag. 

The image of the sword going through her mother replays in her head; the scared look on her face, the sound of her own breath catching in her throat. If she wanted to she could draw the image of the blood pattern her mother created on her tee shirt by memory. 

Her mother was her best friend, and now Helena Wayne felt more alone than ever.

Alfred quickly finishes unpacking her things before he wishes her goodnight kissing her on the head before he left her alone to try and rest. 

Helena’s entire world unraveled as she looked around the pre-decorated and laid out bedroom. This wasn’t her room; the room where she had methodically placed posters on the walls and arranged her desk with just the perfect amount of space to work in. 

She didn’t know this place that was in her birth-right. She didn’t know anything anymore. She just wanted that bedroom back. She wanted her mother coming into her room and telling her that she had made her famous chocolate chip waffles because she had a big test at school and she didn’t want her to fail because her stomach was empty. 

Sure, read her file all you want. However, Helena would argue that her mother was the best mother any girl could ask for. Now, that mother was gone. 

A current of rage and anger rushed through her system, noting would satisfy her besides the feeling of her mother’s killer’s throat in her tiny hand. 

In order to put her mother to rest, fully, the bastard needed to in the ground. 

She turned in bed, looking up at the ornate ceiling that stared back at her. Going through every possible face she could think of, she was falling more and more in love with the feeling of paying back the man who killed her mother. 

There’s a knock on the door, bringing Helena out of the spiral of vengeful rage that she was falling into. 

It was her father, slowly opening the door as to not disturb Helena. He looks at the girl in worry as he tries to give the best smile he can. 

“Sweetheart,” He asked as he ran a hand through his hair. “Can I get you anything?” 

Helena thought for a moment before she sat up in bed, doing the same motion as she pondered the question. 

“Can…Can we hang out tomorrow? Just the two of us?” 

Bruce looked at her for a moment, seeing the mountains of emotions on her face before he nodded. “Of course, Hel. I’ll clear my schedule just for you.” 

She smiled a little, the curve of her lips never seeming to meet her eyes. “Okay…” 

Bruce nods in farewell before he turns to the door. Before he can latch the maple door shut, Helena speaks again. 

“Dad?” 

He turns to face her again before he raises an eyebrow at her. “Yeah?”

“I…” Helena started before she took a shaky breath. The young Wayne turns her head away, hoping that she can say what she needed to say. It comes out choked and choppy, like it’s the most humiliating thing to say. “I’m sorry…” 

Bruce steps into the bedroom at that and walked over to the bed. “Helly,” He breathed as he sat on the edge of the bed next to her. “You…you did everything you could…” He assured as he wrapped his arm around his daughter. 

“No!” She exclaimed in return as she shrugged his big arm off her shoulders. “That’s just it! I didn’t. Y-You…You and mom have been teaching me for situations just like this. We’ve been in the gym more than we’ve been anywhere else and…when the time came I couldn’t act. I was a goddamn coward.” 

She couldn’t say much after that, she was in a complete mess after that sobbing like a small child. 

Bruce shook his head at this and pulled his daughter in for a tight hug, running his hand up and down her back in comfort. She just kept crying until she was gasping for breath. 

Helena had always tried to be like her dad; tough, smart, sophisticated and absolutely fearless. But seeing what she had and watching her own mother’s life leave her eyes was too much. Not even the toughest of men could watch their own mothers die. 

Bruce didn’t know what to say to ease her nerves. His 16 year old daughter was crying as if she were 8, and she didn’t want him to leave that apartment that she and Selina had shared.

After a few moments, he at least thought of _something_.

“I’m here,” Bruce finally said after a few minutes of comforting her, . “I’m always going to be here for you. I know that you’re hurting and you’re feeling all sorts of anger and frustration. I know that you feel as if you’re alone on an island and nobody’s here for you. But you still have me, Alfred…you have a whole village of people here for you.” 

Helena just kept crying, it was out of her control. But she felt calm at her father’s sentiment. Sadly, she felt closer to him now than she did for the past 16 years. She understood what he said completely, because now they understand each other. Helena knew her father’s pain of losing his parents. 

And she doesn’t want it to happen again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for Reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good day, dear readers,
> 
> I know, it's been a while. Nearly two years since I've posted a new update for this story. When I wrote this story, I was spending time before college writing stories to pass the time. For a long time, I never really had the rest of the story planned out. Thus, it remained in complete stasis. 
> 
> But recently I have been reinspired with ideas for this story; thus, this update. (As Young Justice: Outsiders is prepped for a 2019 release). 
> 
> I'm going to try my best to write once a week and update once a week. So far I have the outline for nine chapters. (In which my original plotlines come to play, ha ha ha ha!) 
> 
> I've missed you all.  
> Signed,  
> Babs
> 
> P.S IF YOU HAVE READ THIS FOR A WHILE YOU NEED TO GO BACK AND READ PREVIOUS CHAPTERS.

Helena slept for what felt like forever. After the time passed 12, Bruce had gone to check on Helena to make sure she was okay. There she was still sleeping, curled into her pillows like it was her lifeline. For a few moments, he contemplated whether or not to wake her up so they could at least spend some time together. 

Instead, he let her sleep for a few more hours until 2:00 came rolling around. By then he had gotten some of the work he had planned out for that day, meetings were rearranged, and emails were sent. The Bat had just sent out his last email before Helena came trudging down the stairs to see her father at her computer.

"Morning." She greeted as she moved to sit next to Bruce. "How was patrol?" She asked. 

The simple answer was; he didn't. He left that (reluctantly) to Dick, Barbara, and Tim as he stayed home just in case Helena needed to talk or wanted to talk about something. It was rare that Bruce was going to let go of patrol in the first place. He wasn't going to tell her that he was worried about her, that would make Helena angrier than anything. 

Instead, he just said. "Fine. The usual." 

Helena nodded. "Cool." 

It was sad to see Helena as the way she was, lost and without a simple direction her next action. She looked at the table with a blank look on her face, her expression was impossible to read. It was something that she had inherited from her father. 

The only female Wayne living with Bruce was something he thought would never happen. His life was complicated, both sides of that coin. The Caped Crusader wanted nothing more than to have his daughter in his life. But The Master Jewel Thief had her mindset the day that she was born. 

Selina was strict on making sure that Helena lived as close to a normal life as possible; normal friends, regular school and common dreams and goals. It took years of convincing to tell Helena what he really did for a living once she turned 10. After that, Helena shared her father’s wish to be in his life. But her mother still refused. 

Bruce never planned for this. But now that time was here. 

“I thought,” Bruce said. “We could take a drive; go get some Mario’s Pizza, drive to the marina and just…talk. We have a lot to talk about.” 

Helena looked over at her father and nodded. “Yeah, …we have a lot to discuss.” 

Bruce wrapped his arm around his daughter, and she leaned her head against his arm. “Also your Uncle Clark wants to visit. So I thought we could swing by The Daily Planet." 

Helena, briefly, beamed at the thought that her favorite uncle wanted to visit. Her feeling never reached her entire body, but still, she was excited at the idea of going to visit Uncle Clark. She nodded at that. "I'd like that." 

Bruce smiled a little at that and pressed a kiss to his daughter's head. "Okay." 

Having Helena here would be a distraction, surely. But it was a welcomed distraction. He had been distanced from her for so long it will be nice to build a better relationship with her. 

"C'mon, let's go." 

 

In another part of the country, so distant from anything to do with capes and tights; it was, of course, 5:00. Down at the famous Arnold's Pub in Mussola Montana; the long-forgotten hero, Arsenal, was downing drinks like there was no end in sight. Everyone seemed to either not notice that he was underage or just not care. It was easy to get away with underage drinking when you're looking like death had rolled in and carried you away. 

Arnold's had become a home to the original Harper since he had been pushed out of the team. He had a place, not even a 5-minute walk from here, and the archer was here from sunrise to sunset. 

Tonight was no exception, come rain or shine he was here drinking his life away with money from debit card fraud and other sorts of unnamed acts. 

"Garcon," He pleaded in a silly slur as he raised his finger to catch the attention of the bar-keep. "Another round of your finest ale." 

The barkeep, a tall skinny Montanna mountain man with a beard like Santa Claus, looked over at the young clone and gave him a sigh before he filled up another pint and placing it in front of him. "After this, I'm cutting you off, Mr. Hawke." 

Roy smiled at that and nodded. "I understand, I understand…" He takes the glass and pulls it towards his lips with a smile on his face. "This should be good." 

He takes a sip of the beer, the awful tasting substance running down the back of this throat as he waited for aftertaste to set in. 

Once it did, a voice brought him away from the delicious, cheap beer he was dining on.

"Roy Harper." 

The man winced at the name and took another quick swig of his drink before he turned and looked over at gentleman caller. "He ain't here." 

The gentleman in question stood a few feet away from the bar. He looked a few years older than him, only much more hardened and quiet. A white streak of hair peeking out from the right side of his head as he had a familiar smolder. The guy just smirked at him. "I've been looking for you." 

The smirk tipped him off. He had seen it in pictures on the Cave's old database and the Batcave walls. It had haunted him, a ghost that he hadn't come to know. 

The red-head takes a swig of his beer before swallowing it roughly. "You're supposed to be dead." He explained, more to himself than to the man in front of him. 

"That I know." The raven-haired boy replied as he grabbed a flask out of his jacket and took a swig of its contents. "There's only supposed to be one of you." He retorted as he looked over at Roy. 

Roy took a deep breath before he runs a hand over his tangled locks. "I'm pretty sure that Jason Todd didn't crawl back from the depths of hell to come to visit the reject of the Harper boys…" He told him before he looked over at Jason. "So, what are you doing here?"

Jason took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair before he looked over at Roy. What could he say to him; that he was the last option he had, or, he needed a partner, and there was no way that he could face Bruce after what had happened? 

Naturally, the former Boy Wonder simply stated a partial truth. "I need a partner." 

This piqued Arsenal's interest. Sure, booze and cold nights in Montanna were sweet. But someone could only ride that train for so long before they hit the edge of a cliff and go crashing to the bottom. 

"For?" He replied, looking over in curiosity at the Boy Wonder. 

"I just…I need a partner…" Jason stated. "I'm not going back at it alone, I need a partner. Someone who will work with me; not against me." 

Roy nodded in understanding. "Yeah, Jay…" He paused mid-sentiment to look over at Jason, who wasn't objecting to the new nickname. He continued. "I know what you're talking about."

It's a moment before Roy could say anything. He's going over everything that could possibly go wrong with saying yes to this offer. He wants to say yes, to pack his crappy apartment in Missoula and go and get back into the game. However, there could be a multitude of things going on through Jason's head. He was dead. To Batman, he was still dead. There had to be a few screws loose since everything that happened. Nobody on the team talks about it, none of the bat kids even mention his name. 

Who knows what crawled out of that grave.

He must walk into this with great caution. If things do go south, he needs to have a surefire plan to get out of wherever they are with his head still on his body. 

But still. Roy was going to accept. 

"I'm assuming you have something going on in which you decided you needed a partner," Roy stated as he took another swig of his drink.

"Ha," Jason laughed. "It's like you read my mind." 

 

Dick had been going over the crime scene photos all morning, instead of the weekday edition of the Daily Planet he was looking over the blood-spatters of Selina Kyle's body. 

There were a struggle, broken glass and bowls. The dining room table was chopped in half in the middle of the scuffle. Selina had put up a fight to the end, something that Dick found comparable. 

What caught the Boy Wonder off-guard was the fact that there was no sign of forced entry on any open window or door in the apartment. It was someone that Selina knew that possibly was the one to kill her. Helena did state there were multiple assailants in the home at the time. 

The first boy wonder took a sip of his coffee, looking over the photos one more time before putting them away for a while. As he scanned through the photos, he lost all hope that he'd find some evidence to go off of. Something that could get this case moving. But so far he was coming up empty-handed. 

That was until he looked the last picture. It was a snapshot of the kitchen wall. It was an off-white color with some blood spatter from the fight. At first, everything seemed the way it was after he had looked at the photo for the 8th time. 

But then, there was a small black blip in the middle of the blood. A little glimpse of something that could be embedded in the wall; or, it could be something going on with the manor's photo printer. 

Dick, now grasping at straws for something he could tell Bruce, took out his phone to text Barbara. Can you print photo 52 from Helena's file? And also send me the file to my phone? 

Barbara obliged, sending Dick the file to his phone as well as printing out another copy. What's this about? She asked as she waited for her photo printer to spit out the picture. 

Dick didn't answer, he was scanning over the same spot that he saw in his copy of the photo. If the pixels were off in the photo, they were off in Barbara's copy of the picture, and there is something in that wall that probably wasn't there before. 

He zoomed into the spot, taking a screenshot before sending it back to Barbara. Care to tell me what this is? He asked her. 

Barbara looked at the spot in the picture before crossing it with the image on her computer and the hard-copy she had printed out for herself. Like Dick had seen, the place was still there, a thin but noticeable verticle line going up the wall. 

I don't know, but what I do know is that you're going to look. 

Dick smirked. You know me so well, Barbie. <3 

 

Bruce had noticed all the faces staring as he and Helena walked through the streets of Metropolis. The mystery of who the 16-year-old girl with Bruce Wayne was trending all over every social media website that one could think of. Bruce didn't care. Well, he didn't care right now. He was just taking his daughter to go visit her favorite uncle. 

Clark was sitting in his shared cubicle with Lois when he heard the entire room fall utterly silent with the arrival of Bruce Wayne. Every time this happened, it made Clark chuckle a little. Lois, even after knowing the man for a while was still entranced whenever he walked into the room. 

He looked over and saw the man standing with his arm around his favorite niece. 

Clark stands up at his desk and walks over to the two of them. "Glad you two could make it out!" He exclaimed as he gestured toward one of the conference room. "I thought we could talk in there, where the door can lock, and nobody will be staring." 

Bruce laughed a little, looking down at Helena who was looking around at the various people that were looking at her. Everyone was staring, leaning towards their friends and asking questions in hushed whispers. It's like they didn't even care that she was watching them. 

Bruce looked back at Clark and nodded. "Sounds good." 

The three made it to the conference room. Helena practically hid between the two tall men so she'd be able to forget about the people who kept staring at her. The whispers were subsiding after they had disappeared down the hall. 

Clark sat down the two Waynes at the conference room table. At first, it was just the two men talking. Bruce was bringing him up to speed on just about everything that happened relating to Helena. 

Helena kept her focus on both of the men's faces. Her father was merely full of worry, regret, upset and the hope that this isn't going to turn out the way he thought it was. 

She and her father were birds of a feather. It was pretty simple to know what he was thinking. 

She knew that Bruce had skipped patrol to wait on her in case she needed it. Helena's mother gave Bruce very little room to be in Helena's life, she knew that. But Bruce, he took every inch of room that Selina gave him so he could be in her life. Helena knew for a fact that her father loved her with everything he had. 

After a while, it shifts to Helena; Clark raising an eyebrow at the girl. "How are you holding up with all of this, Helly?" 

Helena cringed at the awful nickname before she nodded and looked over at her dad. "I'm just glad I called Dad when I did." She said as she sat back in her chair. "I…I don't know what I'd do without him." 

Clark smiled a little at that before he looked between his colleague and her. "Well, not only that you have a whole village behind you. I included." He assured. 

Helena smiled again. "That I do." 

Bruce smiled, grateful that this whole visit had Helena smiling again. But now it was time to get ahead of all the rumors that would be flying about Helena and Selina. 

"Clark?" He asked, bringing the two back into the conversation at hand. "We need a favor." 

"We?" Helena asked looking at her father.

"Yeah, we…" Bruce said as he looked to his friend. "Clark, I want to go public about Helena being my daughter. I want you to be the one to do it." 

Clark choked on his own breath, he coughed for a moment before he tried to sit up straight. He looked to his friend in complete shock before he ran a hand through his hair. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Bruce?" 

Helena was just as shocked as Clark was, looking at her father like he was growing two heads. "What's your play here?" 

Bruce sighed as he adjusted in his seat. "If we make a bigger deal about me being her father, it'll put Helena in everyone's eye." 

"I can't deal with everyone in the planet looking at me," Helena shouts in return. "Do you honestly think I can deal with the whole world watching me?" 

"It's not that I want to put you in this, Hell…" Bruce began as he sat up straight in his chair. "The more public eyes we have on you, the less likely that whoever killed your mom will try and kill you." 

The young teen simmered on that thought for a moment as she looked between Clark and Bruce before back at her uncle. "What do you think of this?" She asked as she crossed her arms.

Clark sighed. "It's a good idea," He began. "We don't know who did this to your mom and what they're going to do next. It's a precaution and a good one too. Say the word, Helena we'll do it." 

Her mother died yesterday. Helena Martha Wayne watched as her mother got stapped through the chest with a katana and now they were talking about press releases and bullshit like that. 

It was a precaution. A simple step to make sure that Helena wasn't going to end up on the other end of a katana. 

She looked between the two men and nodded. 

"Let's do it." 

 

It was nearly nightfall when Dick managed to get into Helena's old apartment. The police quickly canvassed everything and made sure that nobody got on the inside of this. But, from the looks of it, they didn't even touch the brick blip in the wall. 

He walked over to the spot in the wall before grabbing his mini saw that he kept in his utility belt. With a flick of the wrist, he was cutting out the small portion of the drywall before shoving it into a plastic bag. "Here we go…" He says before he turns around busts out of the same window in which he came. 

 

A small compact car was making it's way out of Montanna and towards Seattle with Jason Todd driving and Roy Harper looking around like he hadn't seen anywhere but Montanna for the past few months. 

"So," Roy started before looking over at Jason. "Where are we going anyway?" 

"First off, we need supplies…" He began. "Second off, we need a plane ticket back to Gotham City, and we'll work from there." 

"Gotham City?!" Arsenal exclaimed as he turned to face his new partner. "I thought you didn't want Bruce to know that you were alive." 

"No, it's not that…" He says as he grabs a tablet out of the backseat and tosses it to Roy. "Not even a day ago police scanners are firing about a murder in Gotham Centienial apartments." 

"So? What does that have to do with us?" Roy asked.

"The League of Shadows, that's what." He stated. "Selina Kyle, the victim, was a coordinated attack by the League itself. Nobody paid for a single mom to get taken out by the biggest group of assassins on the planet." 

Roy looked at the tablet before he looked at his partner. "I'm not even going to ask how you know anything about this…" 

"It's better if you don't."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I guess every great fanfiction has a filler chapter right? Sorry in advance.

Clark dropped the article two days later. The story was something that completely rocked the entire country. With that, the rumors began to spread about Helena. It was everything from a Govenator love-child predicament to a complete and utter hoax.

It didn't help anyone to dwell on the rumors, but Helena couldn't handle it. She was aware that this was going to be widely received and talked about, but she just wasn't used to the number of times she'd see her picture online. These people would do anything and find any picture of her. It was 24 hours of seeing her old Insta-snap pictures plastered on every major online publication on the planet.

The school didn’t open up again until early next week. When Helena and Tim went back, it was all anyone could talk about. They stared at her as she walked to her classes, the whispers all rang together into a large cloud of white noise. It was driving Helena absolutely crazy.

Her father kept assuring her that everything was okay; that it would just go away in a couple of weeks. Helena protested the idea of going back to school. One, she now had a hard time sleeping because every time she closed her eyes, she could see her mother getting stabbed. Two; she wasn't used to anyone besides her and mom knowing what Bruce's relationship was to her. Three; this was a big deal. Bruce never had any blood-born children. Helena was going to be among the tabloid history of the Wayne family for at least a decade. Here’s how Helena thought of it, it would be months, possibly years before this even started to fade into the meaningless old gossip. This wasn't as small as Bruce thought it was. 

But still, her father made her go to the school that day. 

Helena hated every moment of it. Everyone decided that they needed to get a good look at the "long-lost daughter" of Bruce Wayne. 

She thought she could get over it. English Class was the perfect escape for something like this. She could take a deep breath and sit back, listen to lectures about Poe and then get on with her day. Right now was her only solitude in a god-awful situation.

"Miss Wayne?" 

Still, she found herself trapped in her thoughts. All she could think about was the sheer amount of faces that were staring at her as she walked her way to English class. It was terrifying, to say the least. 

"Miss Wayne!" 

Helena looked up and saw her English teacher staring down at her from above her desk. She kept a stern eyebrow locked on her as she watched the young girl look at her with a curious eye. 

"Miss Wayne," _Why was she calling her that?_  Helena wondered to herself as she sat up in her desk as if she was going to hear her teacher's words more clearly. "Do you need to go to the office?" 

Helena looked at her teacher oddly as she looked around. Everyone, still, was staring at her like she was the red-headed stepchild of the entire junior class. Frankly, coming to school today was an absolutely terrible idea. She just wanted to get out of here and go see her dad or something. Being in her e was becoming almost suffocating. 

"Please." 

The teacher nodded understandingly at her before walking back towards the front of the room. "I'll email you what you missed in class and if you need help with anything at all you just let me know, okay?" She stated as she looked over at the girl. 

Helena nodded and smiled. "Thank you Miss Rochev." She nodded before she stepped out of the classroom and into the hallway. 

An empty hallway was an absolutely relieving sight for Helena to behold. She was now free of the prying eyes of the entire school and go on her way. 

She took out her phone and scrolled through the contacts. She could call her dad, but he'd just insist that everything would be fine and that she should just go back to class and he'd see her a little later. Sure, it would be okay when the school day was over, and she was back at the manor. But Bruce seemed to overestimate Helena's inner strength. 

Right now, it took everything in her to put one foot in front of the other. 

She scrolled for a moment before she landed on 'Dick Grayson.' Helena thought for a moment before she tapped on the contact and the text message window opened up. 

Helena, walking towards the office, texted as quickly as her thumbs would take her. _Hey, I know that we barely know each other...but...can you do me a favor?_

Before the office came up on her right, Helena went and took a hard right to bring herself to the women's restroom. She waited for Dick to text her back as she headed into one of the stalls. 

She stood for a moment her back up against one of the walls. Helena gazed at her phone expectantly for what seemed like forever. Soon enough, Dick replied. 

_What's up?_

Ah, that question. It seemed to be the worst question that anyone could ask Helena. She felt as if she were spiraling. She wanted to get out. Dick was her only saving grace to get out of here. 

 _I'm just really overwhelmed right now._ She started, if she was going to get out of here for the day, she might as well be as honest as she could be. Helena took a deep breath and continued. _Ever since the article came out, everyone's staring at me, and I know that they're talking about me. I just don't want to be anywhere near here, or in town. I want to go home and take a nap._  

The more she typed her text message, the more Helena's eyes began to water. It was all too much. 

In less than a week, everything was turning on its head upside down, and Helena was about to completely flip out. Her mother is dead, she's living with her father, and now everyone on the planet seemed to know who she was, and now everyone has decided to give a shit all together. 

Dick's grey bubble popped up on the other side of the text window, the three dots dancing slowly as he was typing his response to her cry for help. 

Really, Dick knew all too well the adjustment from being practically nobody to being apart of some legacy that was much bigger than you. It was overwhelming. Bruce took his time with Dick, Jason, and Tim. But with Helena; Bruce was doing everything quickly and with no mercy. Helena was not him, she had just lost her mother, and already they're going forward with some awful plan to keep her safe. 

_I'll be there in 10. Wait inside by the front door of the school._

Helena breathed a sigh of relief as she let her head rest against the bathroom stall wall. Finally, she was going to be able to get out of here and then her body could relax. At least, she could rest for a little bit, rest. 

Quicker than Barry would be able to comprehend, she ran to her locker and grabbed her books and shoved them into her bag. Before the ten minutes were up, she was already waiting right where Dick said to wait. He couldn't come fast enough. The bell had already rung, and she was again bombarded by the whispers and the talks. 

Not even a minute later, Helena was seeing her 'big brother' waiting by the rose bushes in front of the school. Hiding under the eye of any of the security cameras; Helena managed to make it outside, and she ran towards Dick. "You are my absolute savior, Dick." She greeted with an exhausted twist of her lips into a smile. 

Dick looked over at the girl and gave a smile in return. "No, I get it. I'm that good." He put a hand on Helena's shoulder as the two made pace away from the school. "Are you okay?" 

Helena shook her head no. "Everything's going to fast my brain can't seem to comprehend it." She said as she looked over at him. "Everyone knows...it...feels...wrong..." 

Dick raised an eyebrow, shoving his hands into his pockets. He pondered the girl's sentiment for a moment before he looked over at her. "Why would it be wrong?" 

Helena took a deep breath, thinking about the relationship she had with her father for the past 10 years. It was a strange one. 

 

The more time had passed, the more she had forgotten how her father had found her in the first place. Helena was only 6 when he first came to visit the apartment. 

She had just gotten home from school, sitting on the couch with her spiral notebook and crayons drawing something with the TV on before the doorbell rang. It caught her mother off-guard, she wasn't expecting to see anyone at this time of day. When Selina walked over to the door and looked through the pee-pole, Helena could already tell that something was wrong. The air in the room changed from a normal after-school day into something straight out of a soap opera. 

Bruce walked in, keeping an eye on Helena as she drew her picture. The two went to the kitchen to talk for a while, Helena paying them no mind as she worked diligently on her drawing. It seemed like forever before that little girl saw anyone. Bruce was the first to walk out of their cramped kitchen apartment. Almost immediately he walked over to Helena and crouched before her. 

"Helena," Bruce said, managing to catch the girl's attention as she looked up from her work and at the man in front of her. Bruce, at that point, was somewhere near hysterics. He had this shocked look on his face, it was of plain disbelief and complete sorrow. "My name is Bruce..." He started as he looked at the drawing. "Wow! That is such a neat drawing," He craned his head to get a better look. "Is Batman your favorite?" 

Helena looked at the drawing before she looked at Bruce, nodding. 

That was the day Bruce told Helena that he was her father. It was something was hard for her to believe. Her mother had told her that her daddy had gone on to heaven to make sure everything was okay for her and her family. Helena was so angry at her mother that the young girl didn't speak to her for a few weeks. 

After that, Helena didn't want a life without her father. Selina understood, but she demanded that the two follow a strict set of restrictions from now on. They were only allowed to spend time together at the apartment when Selina was home. She was treating an innocent man much like a criminal for wanting to see his own daughter. 

 

Helena, thinking a lot about her own past looked up and over at the older brother. "My mother...she...she didn't like the fact that Dad knew that I existed," She began. "It was like it was the worst thing that could possibly happen. My own father wanting to spend time with me. She made it a rule that nobody could ever know that Bruce was my dad. I never hung out with him outside of our apartment. Nobody was supposed to know that. Now everybody knows." 

Dick nodded trying his best to understand what she meant by that. The two had different views of who Bruce was as a person. It was like 2 different people raised them. 

"I'm staying," Dick says. "In Gotham, at the manor, with you and Tim. I just want to make sure that you get settled. I know it's hard. But you need all the help that you can get right now. Which is why I already dropped off my suitcase. I won't be in town forever, but I'll be here for you." 

Helena looked over at the older man, astonished. The whole gesture was over and beyond what was called for in this situation, and it made her heart swell at the gesture. At this point, Helena couldn't say anything. All she could do was walk with him towards town, crossing her arms and nodding at his sentiment. 

"Can we go get something to eat?" 

Dick, being a responsible adult for once, told Bruce what was going on. That Helena was having a rough time at school, so he sprung her early. Surprisingly, Bruce didn't argue with him about it. It was best for both of them. Dick would get to know Helena, and she could take a breather for the day. 

Bruce had been feeling awful for making Helena go to school since Dick called. She had agreed to the article, probably because she didn't want to upset him. But they both argued about Helena going to school for what seemed like forever. 

The two haven't been in each other's lives like this. Bruce never had to give her orders or tell her what to do. She and Bruce were always that kind and supportive parent/child relationship. His daughter was now in his care. She was now relying on him, and he's pushing much more than a father should. 

Bruce's computer dings with an incoming transmission from Batgirl's computer. It's something that Dick had picked up at Helena's apartment. 

Expectantly, he opened up the transmission and read over the message. 

_B,_

_An analysis shows that this Shuriken was embedded in the drywall of Helena's apartment. Much powerful than ones encountered in the past, made of a Carbon-Titanium Alloy that would rip our armor to shreds. The sharp cut of matches The League of Shadows with a 94.6% accuracy rating, but matches no known assassins in the League or Batcomputer database._

_Be careful, take care of her,_

_BG_

Bruce spent the rest of his work day in the office looking over the stats from the throwing star that Dick had found. Barbara was right, this would have ripped through any of their armor like safety scissors to paper. It was powerful and deadly. However, without a play by play of what happened in the apartment, there wasn't much more to go off of. They didn't have the evidence. 

"Fuck." 

This entire debacle was something even more significant than Bruce and Helena. Than anyone. A hostile force of evil was coming after his child, and have taken out the mother of his child. This was going to one of those cases that would haunt Bruce Wayne for the rest of his days. 

He looked over on his desk to see a small picture of a little girl; dressed as Batman with a long yellow cape and a dollar store mask. It was one of his favorite photos, weirdly. The snapshot was taken during Helena's first Halloween after she had met him. Bruce remembered visiting Helena for dinner that October and asked her; "What do want to be for Halloween, sweetheart?" 

"I wanna be just like dad!" 

Helena has always looked to Bruce for guidance. Someone to lean on when everything seemed to be going to shit. He always (seemed to) give the right advice to Helena whenever she needed it. But right now; Bruce was entirely at a loss. 

Bruce looked around his desk some more; at pictures of Dick, Jason and Tim. It took a moment before his eyes landed on a small view of his parents he kept tucked in the corner of a framed picture of Dick and Alfred. 

He sat there for a moment, letting himself think about his parents. Mostly, he remembered his mother; how she was always standing up for Gotham with a glowing grace and humility that she learned from her side of the family. Bruce, unsurprisingly, was still going off and causing trouble. His mother always dealt with his antics with patience. Sometimes, she even laughed at the stress he'd cause around the manor. 

For a moment he wondered what his mother would say. But after a while; he just tried to remember his mother's patience. How patient she was with his father, her son and with the city she loved. 

It was at this moment that Bruce felt a little less lost. 

He picked up his phone and dialed down the Lucius Fox in R&D, the phone didn't even have to ring twice before he picked up the lab's main landline. 

"Why," his voice began, laughing a little as he posed his greeting. "What can I do for you today, Mr. Wayne?" 

Bruce nodded to himself before he looked out to the Gotham horizon line. The beautiful afternoon starting to roll into the city. "I need a favor," he stated confidently, smiling a little. "I need you to make me a suit." 

Dick sat with Helena on a rooftop of a nearby building. For being 10 stories high in the beginning of fall, it seemed to be a perfect day for Big Belly Burger on top of the Gotham rooftop. The two haven't talked about much regarding the cataclysmic events of the past few days. 

Since Helena wasn't going to talk about what was going on; Dick was more than happy to ask his newly-found sister about herself. Thankfully, Helena was more than happy to oblige. They had managed to chow down 4 burgers throughout their conversation.

When she was talking about when Bruce bought her a longboard for her birthday; you could see it was something Helena loved to do. Her eyes lit up when she was talking about the trucks of her board, smiling wide when she was talking about the best places to board in Gotham. 

"We should go," Dick says when Helena stops to catch her breath and take a sip of her drink.

"What?" Helena asked looking over at him with a smile. "Do you really mean that?" 

Dick chuckled as he ate a fry. "Why not," He replied. "It'll be fun, plus it can help me get to work quicker." 

Helena nodded at that and laughed a little. "I could teach you a thing or two." She said before she looked over at him. "Plus, I'd like that." She said with a smile. 

Dick smiled in return as he looked at their big pile of Big Belly Burger. It was empty with no remnants of food in sight. He looked up at the young Wayne before his smile faded.

The time of thinking about longboarding and lunches on rooftops was over. Dick looked over at Helena and pursed his lips before he sighed. 

"What do you want to do?" 

Helena looked over at the first Boy Wonder with confusion, now it was back to reality. Something that Helena wanted to escape from for a little while longer. 

"I...I just..." Helena began as she looked at Dick. "I just want to hide. At least for a while." She looked out to the city before she gripped her jeans. "This is...a lot. I'm no longer the same person. Helena Kyle is dead. Helena Wayne? Jesus Christ. I don't know who Helena Wayne is anyway." 

Dick nods at that and looked out the city. "Yeah, I get it. Well...let's get you back to the manor. The paved driveway is perfect for you to start teaching me how to longboard." 

Helena smiled a little at that, looking around before she started wrapping up her burger wrappers. "Let's do it." She says confidently as she started to pick up the trash. "Let's get out of here." 

 

 

 

It had been 4 weeks since 16-year-old Kara Danvers went missing. APB pulled back nothing, and neither did the Amber Alert. If they had found her now, it would be of no use. She had no one to come back to. Her entire family, her adoptive family, were all long buried by the National City Medical Examiner's office. 

In an evidence box that was starting to collect dust, one could see the glint of the same throwing star used in the murder of Selina Kyle. 

Nobody knew where it came from or who bought it, but one thing's for sure; that whoever killed Selina is apart of some bigger scheme. Something that has the potential to be more dangerous than anything The Team has come into contact with. 

If everything fell into place; there's no stopping the destruction. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was watching Young Justice with a friend of mine who supposedly has never seen the show. But when she sees Kid Flash come on she goes. "OH NOOOO! I KNOW THAT LITTLE YELLOW FAST DUDE. OHHHH NOOOO. THIS IS GONNA HURT!"

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


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